Why This Guy Turned Down a Career on Wall Street to Become a Professional Boxer

Mike Lee had a stable career staring straight at him after he graduated with a finance degree from the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza School of Business, which at that time, was the number one undergraduate business school in the country. He had incredible financial job offers from all over, including Wall Street.

Mike Lee had also spent his entire collegiate career competing as an amateur boxer. By the time he was ready to graduate from Notre Dame, he was starting to get offers to go pro.

In Lee's eyes, he had two very different paths set out in front of him. One guaranteed safety, security, and success. The other guaranteed absolutely nothing. Let's just say he took the road less traveled, and hasn't looked back. He's a rising star in the boxing ring, with a record of 19-0 and the reigning IBF USBA Light Heavyweight champion. A win on June 23rd, his next big fight, would launch his ranking into the top 10 in the world.

How exactly a Notre Dame graduate ended up in the boxing ring is actually a testament to Lee's determination, part of what makes him so successful as a professional athlete.

Boxing came first. An eight-year-old Lee was shaking hands with the other team after a youth hockey game when out of no where, a kid spat in his face. "I did what I saw my hockey idols do in that kind of situation— I dropped my gloves and punched him in the face." His parents very soon afterward took their eight-year-old son to a boxing gym, and he fell in love with the discipline of the sport. His athleticism and intelligence made him a natural, and he slowly made his way up the ranks.

Then it was Notre Dame. Lee was 10 years old when he first saw Rudy, the iconic story of a boy's relentless dream to become a University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Lee, like Rudy, spent the rest of his childhood dreaming in blue and gold. He knew as a senior in high school that his grades wouldn't get him into his dream school, but that didn't stop him.

"I went to the University of Missouri my freshman year and worked really hard on my grades," Lee said. "I got straight A's my first year and then was able to transfer to Notre Dame."

Lee credits much of his success to his time at Notre Dame. "[Notre Dame] opened my eyes," he said. "For the first time of my life, I was around other kids who were not only smart but motivated to be bigger and better people. I feel like I became an adult at Notre Dame."

Understandably, Lee was met by hesitation from his family and friends when he decided to forego a career in finance after earning a degree from one of the most successful business schools in the country. "I had professors at Notre Dame, friends, family, that told me I shouldn't do this [pursue boxing]," he said. "I could have worked in New York City, on Wall Street, but I knew I had one chance to do this...I knew I'd regret it if I didn't go for it."

"I've gotten a third-round knockout in Madison Square Garden and I can’t even tell you how alive I felt," he said. "That moment is worth the days, weeks, months, years of work. That feeling of getting a knockout and getting my glove raised, that feeling is what I'm always chasing."

Still, though, a business school graduate isn't exactly the first thing you'd imagine of a competitive boxer. Especially a University of Notre Dame graduate. But Lee wouldn't have it any other way, and actually credits his education to a lot of his success. The discipline he had to have in school, for example, carried directly over to the discipline he has to have in training. His background in finance has helped him in many of his personal pursuits, including sponsorship deals and entrepreneurial endeavors.

But there's another reason Lee is so successful both in school and in the ring. "So much of boxing is mental, much more than people realize," said Lee, "Your mind is so important. I focus a lot of time on visualization leading up to fights, visualizing the fight in extreme detail. The sounds, the sights, the smells, everything. It's almost meditating, and is really helpful."

He said that paying special attention to breathing also benefits him both in training and in the middle of a fight. "I work on breathing daily, breathing in through the nose for four seconds and out through the mouth for four seconds," he explained. "When you're breathing is out of control, your whole body panics and shuts down. This helps slow my heart rate down and get in the zone."

In the end, Mike Lee's boxing future is bright, but he thinks there is something that everyone can take away from his story. "Too many people are in this routine of living for the weekend. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow and I would always regret not going for it. I think that the pain of regret is bigger than the pain of failure," he said. "I would tell people, especially young people, you'll always regret not going for what you love. At least I can go to bed knowing I went for it. There's a mental peace to that."

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